The 2008 election was probably the most exciting election that I had experienced.The memory is still so clear, with his theme song, Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”ringing in the airwaves when Obama won.

Like many people. I never thought that I would see a minority person elected as the President of the United States.

But more important than that, Obama brought with him qualities of inclusiveness, compassion, and a great sense of humor. I always believe that a person’s character determines the kind of energy/aura/ vibes, whichever you wish to call it, that he carries with him or brings into a room. And Obama’s energy was always positive.

There were times when he was too nice to the Republicans, still praising them or thinking that they wanted to work with him. You felt like yelling to him “stop”, when it was obvious that all they wanted to do was to obstruct him or see him fail.

We admire him and Michelle for graciously standing tall against all the racism and ugliness that were shown to them from all the mean-spirited people. As the First Lady said: “When they go low, we go high.”

Thank you, President Obama, for your service, the hope and the inspiration.

When President Obama welcomed Trump to the White House, he said this to his successor: “Most of all, I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed — because if you succeed, then the country succeeds.”

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said this in an interview in 2010: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

Well, big difference. Reminds me of the saying: “What you say about other people reveals more about you than what you say about yourself.”

Minority voters showed their strength in helping to re-elect President Obama.

Obama won 93% of the African-American votes. Pierre Thomas, Senior Justice Correspondent for ABC News, gave an interesting and insightful analysis of the Black community’s overwhelming support in this election.

He first pointed out that African-Americans have a complicated relationship with Obama. The recession has hit the Black community hard, and the unemployment rate among Blacks is higher than the national rate.

But everywhere he went, interviewing African-Americans for his stories, the one thing that stood out was how they felt about the disrespect that some members of the Republican Party had shown towards the President.

People talked about two episodes in particular. One was the time when Obama gave his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson interrupted the proceedings by yelling out “You lie!”

The other was the moment when Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer pointed a finger at the President’s face.

“They told me this is not the kind of America that they want to live in,” Thomas said. And this motivated them to support Obama, and almost totally rejected Romney.

A lesson in politics, EQ and life: do not treat people with disrespect. It never works and will come back to bite you.

Is this how you talk to the President? Republican Gov. Brewer’s extreme rudeness stayed on people’s mind. (pic: msn.com)

This is the fourth election cycle where the 7-Eleven chain has launched its “7-Election” promotion. Customers can choose coffee cups representing each Presidential candidate, and the chain then tracks and tallies the sales of each to predict the outcome of the election.

The slogan on their website reads: “Help predict the winner. Grab a cup of hot, fresh coffee and cast your vote.”

And their poll has accurately predicted the winner each time. At the time of this post, the “7-Election” poll shows that Obama is leading with 59% of the cups or “votes”, and Romney has 41%.

(The poll for California shows 62% for Obama, 38% for Romney.)

On Sunday, I went to my neighborhood 7-Eleven store and bought a cup. I asked the store owner about the sale of the cups. He replied, “We’ve been selling mostly Obama….we had to reorder the Obama cup three times!”

Mitt Romney and President Obama….not backing down at the second debate. (Pic: usnews.com)

First Presidential debate: the President’s performance was described as weak, listless, disengaged.

Second debate: Obama was seen to be feisty, energetic, alpha male.

But some commentators had some concerns about the President taking on the alpha male persona. For instance, New York Times columnist David Brooks appearing on the PBS Newshour pointed out: “The person who is deemed to have won the debate is the person who dominates the room. And so it becomes alpha male.”

He continued: “I think — I think Obama will get a little something out of this. That would be my guess.

“But I say that with some trepidation, because the coolness, you know, I think that may not — it won’t help Romney, but it may not swing things.”

Could there be a middle ground between weak and alpha male? It would be interesting to see if the President will be able to find that optimum style and body language. Stay tuned for the third debate.